Asia (except ME & Indian SC)

BEIJING (AP) — Amid a freeze in military-to-military contacts, China is accusing the United States of militarizing outer space, a day after it protested the passage of a U.S. Navy P-8A Poseidon anti-submarine aircraft through the Taiwan Strait.

Chinese Defense Ministry spokesperson Col. Tan Kefei said on Friday that U.S. actions, including the establishment of the Space Force in 2019 as the newest branch of the military, have “had a great negative impact on space security and global strategic stability.”

BEIJING, Jul 13 (APP): Thanks to the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC), Pakistan is now slowly moving from imported fuels to local fuel for power generation and from outdated technology to new Chinese technology, Minister for Power, Khurram Dastgir Khan has said.

“This shift is happening and Chinese companies are much more visible now.

They are bringing their technology, their management to Pakistan, and they are teaching Pakistani engineers and workers,” he told Xinhua in a recent interview at a power transmission project under the CPEC.

BEIJING, July 13 (APP): China supported the urgent debate held at the United Nations Human Rights Council over public and premeditated acts of desecration of the Quran and strongly condemned such acts that happened once again in the relevant country.

China supports holding this urgent debate and expresses its strong condemnation over the burning of the Holy Quran that happened once again in the relevant country, Chinese Foreign Ministry Spokesperson, Wang Wenbin said during his regular briefing on Thursday.

JAKARTA, July 13. /TASS/: Consultations on digital cooperation issues will become a regular occurrence in the interaction between Russia and member-states of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN), Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov told reporters.

BANGKOK, July 13 (NNN-Bernama) — As Thailand’s Parliament convenes Thursday for the much-anticipated prime ministerial vote, all eyes are on the outcome – will Pita Limjaroenrat become the next prime minister. 

The 42-year-old leader of the Move Forward Party (MFP) is the only candidate nominated on Thursday for prime minister.

However,  he faces challenges in securing at least 375 votes of the 749-member bicameral parliament – 249-member Senate  (one senator resigned on Wednesday) and a 500-member House of Representatives.

KUALA LUMPUR, July 13 (NNN-Bernama) — Malaysia has retained its position as the fifth largest exporter of liquefied natural gas (LNG) in 2022, after Australia, the United States, Qatar and Russia.

According to the International Gas Union’s 14th annual World LNG Report 2023 released on July 12, LNG exports from Malaysia in 2022 stood at 27.3 million tonnes (MT), an increase from 24.9 MT in 2021, which constitutes about seven per cent of the total LNG traded globally.

TAIPEI, July 13 (Reuters) - Chinese fighter jets monitored a U.S. Navy patrol plane that flew through the sensitive Taiwan Strait on Thursday, as China carried out a third day of military exercises to the south of the island Beijing views as China's sovereign territory.

JAKARTA, July 11 (NNN-Bernama) — Malaysia has expressed hope that the biennial resolution on the Southeast Asia Nuclear Weapon-Free Zone (SEANWFZ) will successfully be adopted at the 78th United Nations General Assembly this year.

Minister of Foreign Affairs Dr Zambry Abd Kadir said the SEANWFZ Treaty 2023-2027 which forms an extended security framework will place an architecture that complements and strengthens the Zone of Peace, Freedom, and Neutrality Declaration of 1971. 

BEIJING, July 12 (Reuters) - Beijing lashed back at NATO's accusation that China challenges the bloc's interests and security, and opposed any attempt by the military alliance to expand its footprint into the Asia-Pacific region.

In a strongly worded communique issued midway into a two-day summit in the Lithuanian capital of Vilnius on Tuesday, NATO said the People's Republic of China (PRC) challenged its interests, security and values with its "ambitions and coercive policies".

TOKYO, July 12 (Xinhua) -- A Tokyo court on Wednesday sentenced the former president of Japanese advertising company ADK to a suspended prison term over bribery charges associated with sponsorship of the Tokyo Olympic and Paralympic Games.

The Tokyo District Court sentenced Shinichi Ueno, 69, to two years in prison, suspended for four years, after he was accused of paying around 14 million yen (100,000 U.S. dollars) to former Tokyo Olympic organizing committee executive Haruyuki Takahashi for favors over sponsor selection.